Hello! This is my first post. It's been about a year since I have discovered ERE. I have read the book probably 5 times now and have been making changes in my life. I wish I discovered this about 20 years ago. I wasted lots of money and most important time. I'm now 39 years old, single, and maybe think it's going to be a long journey.

Welcome Climbinghills! Reading THE book 5 times should be a good start What do you mean, you wasted lots of money? Would an ERE lifestyle the opposite compared to your lifestyle in the past? Well, I wish you many fast (small) victories on your journey.

No I am not from Ireland. I'm from the states, East Coast. By wasting money I mean clothes, shoes, cosmetics, all the girl stuff. I've owned 4 cars. I've had a gym membership for the past 10 years. This is my hardest thing to give up. I'm ditching it in July and going find an alternative. I use to own tons of furniture and I've sold most of it. Been clearing out for a while now.

True - but you only get one body and one life. The $20 per month I pay is worth every penny. It has a social and psychological benefit as well as maintaining your body. I would cut cable and dining out before cancelling this maintenance expense. If I let myself go - what would even be the point in living? My health is number 1 on my list. Money is only number 4.

I agree that a gym membership can be very important (health is) and is not a waste of money.

Depending on the cost, investing in a home gym could be an interesting alternative. That's what FrugalPatat and I did when we had saved lots of money and weren't ready to start investing. Home gyms (the power rack kind, not the bazillion machine kind) can be resold for about as much money as you bought them for.

I think a lot of us arrive here after having spent the starting chunk of our adult years a little unfocused. Looks like you've got things turned around at a younger age than I did.

You didn't state enough for me to gauge the length of time you are looking at. Since I started getting my head straight and focused it's been about 9-10 years (6 since I had a plan specific enough I could articulate it) and I've got 1-2ish more to go. Keeping myself mostly focused in the present (something I had to learn and, sadly, practice) has helped. One can get dispirited by focusing too much on what is lacking and how much it will take to overcome that.

With the caveat that I'm a "bad ERE-er" (really, I got here too late to be anything but a pedestrian ER guy), the journey is a balancing act. When it comes to discretionary spending, I find it helpful to examine the expense and think about whether or not it contributes positively to my overall well-being/contentedness in reasonable proportion to the cost (YMOYL 101, in other words), and how it stacks up against competing values as pertains to money. On the surface < $30/month doesn't seem outrageous if you put the membership to good use. There are cheaper routes depending on what you do specifically, and how much trouble you want to go through to avoid the spending, but sometimes having an out-of-the-house routine and possibly some associated social interaction makes a big difference to people. With that said, you seem to have made the decision to change things up despite the difficulty. I wish I had that much dedication. Good luck, and welcome.